VIRUS ANTIBODY LEVELS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

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Abstract
Sera from 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 10 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 99 healthy control subjects have been studied for several viral antibodies by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and complement fixation (CF). Measles HI antibodies were significantly increased in both RA and SLE. The geometric mean of the measles antibody titres, expressed as log2 of the reciprocal mean antibody titre, where 1.00 equals a titre of 1: 10, was 1.17 in the controls, 2.45 in patients with RA (p<0.01), and even higher, and 3.80 (p<0.01), in patients with SLE. The measles CF antibody titres of SLE patients, but not of RA patients, also differed significantly from those of controls. In addition, the mean rubella HI titre was slightly increased in SLE (p<0.02). The significantly elevated measles antibody levels in RA and SLE may be due to altered immuno‐logical reactivity in these diseases, but a viral aetiology cannot be excluded.